Not sure if this has been raised before - which would surprise me if it hasn't bearing in mind the propensity for this forum to pick up on things like this.
However (& for those of us in the UK or with UK GP surgeries) it is worth checking out this Financial Times article: https://www.ft.com/content/e5fbaf09-34f5-4a08-8d3a-7fbc6e9e3c44

In summary - good old NHS Digital (yes, that incompetent shower of nerds that sold all our data - in a well meaning fashion of course - to Google a while back - who then sold it on to DeepMinds!!!) are planning - on 1st July - to upload (it's actually a data-scrape - shudder!!!) all of the UKs GP Surgeries medical databases into the NHS digital database.

Now, as I work in 'big IT' the very idea that this is happening sends a shudder down my spine - not least because these types of projects have a general propensity to go t*ts-up as sure as the sun rises and all that Pope's & Bear's stuff happens - but also data record migrations are only as good as original data and the idea that all the GP Surgeries in the UK will have accurately maintained all the data preferences and anonymity wishes of their many millions of patients is of course a complete joke!

Also in the age-old traditions of UK Big Government - this has not been widely announced - in fact to stop your data being downloaded you have to complete a paper form (another great digital government idea) that you can download from the NHS website (@ digital.NHS.uk/services/national-data-opt-out ) and take it by hand to your GP surgery before Wednesday 23rd June to stop your data being uploaded.

Leaving aside the propensity for a major c*ck-up using your personal medical history now or at some dim & distant point in the future ... the other good reason to NOT be involved, is that NHS Digital can still most definitely sell your data on for commercial use (despite the 2017 Google/DeepMinds incident).
NB: I have no problems with my anonymised data being used to further medical cures or academic research - but I am not happy that it will be used by some data-jockey who is willing to pay for it for blatantly commercial ends (& we can debate the commerciality of 'big pharma' on another occasion  )

NHS Digital claim they wont sell your data to the 'wrong' people for the 'wrong' reasons (although the regrettable incident with Google does prove that such things can happen), but as pointed out in the FT article, the data-protection wording on the NHS Digital website is wide open ...  "We do not allow data to be used solely for commercial purposes,". I rest my case mi'lud   

So hurry now folks - download that good old fashioned paper form, fill in your preferences (& take a copy for your own records) and walk it over to your, already pandemic overstretched, GP Surgery and ask them to ensure that your data remains safely with them in their own isolated data-bases.

You have been warned ...

 

I can't believe that such a significant step has not become a big news issue for main stream media - wake up BBC!

The NHS page is here and appears to offer a voice of reason, my sister e-mailed the whole family about this yesterday ..... but she is conspiracy theory mad, so anything at all that there is to worry about, she will find it. I will phone my over worked GP service and try and find out a bit more.

NHS link
https://www.nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters/manage-your-choice/

If it wasn't for the Financial Times article I wouldn't have taken it at all seriously Norm ... but the DeepMinds/Google incident I'm afraid just shows up the massive vulnerabilities of any system where intimate personal data is sold on to one party who then has to abide by another organisations data rules.

Plus, the very fact that there is no simple Opt-Out mechanism on the NHS Digital web-pages and that there has been no big announcement about this (as you say) on the BBC, makes me more than cautious.

Have spoken with my GP service, who are very good. They were also able to remind me that they are themselves a private company as are many areas of the NHS, so use by 'private companies' is related to this and it appears the goals and aims of the use of the data seem honourable and necessary to best resource and plan local services.

I guess the sticking point is whether agencies are secure enough not to get hacked etc, but that seems to be an issue with everything in our electronic world and speaking as a person who's TalkTalk Mobile Service was hacked, resulting in me having to change banks, I am aware of the pitfalls. However, in the wider view of things, I'm not particularly seeing a compelling urgency to opt out, but that is just a personal view - hopefully my life insurance premiums will not go up, but Rather I will find it easier to get some services :-)

Surely, there should be an 'OPT IN' for such things, rather than 'opt out'?

Same with Organ Donation'. If I wanted to donate my organs... (NOT that I would reccommend MINE to a recipient, after My lifestyle!)... I 'might' have... but chose not to. If organ removal becomes standard procedure, (as I think was being 'pushed for' a while back)... I would EXPECT TO BE CONTACTED and given options that were easy to use!

Er... contacted PRIOR to Death, would be preferable.

Not all THAT bothered. However, data resulting in Treatment Refusal, Financial or Insurance refusal, etc. could be HARMFUL!
Never mind being pestered by a possible 'multitude' of Ads for products or services.

Good 'heads-up'.

That sort of ties in with our local surgery no longer sending 'automatic' repeat prescriptions to a pharmacy, once a month, for a number of their 'customers'.

I've been requesting all of my pills through an online NHS site for a couple of years, rather than phoning the surgery.
Von's been told she'll now have to do the same, OR drop a 'paper' request into the surgery from July.

Hmmmmm.........

Cheers - Phil.

Made the BBC.

Must admit, it's a bit concerning about how it's being done, very quietly and making it difficult to opt-out.

It's not quite 'on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying 'Beware of the Leopard." ', but it's not far off.

Almost like they've got something to hide . . .

And if we complain, they'll probably read us some of their poetry.

Cheers - Ford.

Fortuneatly Phil the NHS does not employ any Vogons.....Welsh bards maybe.

Quote from: Heedless Horseman on 08 June 2021, 03:12:53 AM
Not all THAT bothered. However, data resulting in Treatment Refusal, Financial or Insurance refusal, etc. could be HARMFUL!
Never mind being pestered by a possible 'multitude' of Ads for products or services.

Insurers don't need your genetic data - as they are now very clear about the disclosure clauses in their policy wordings - if you'd ever, even once (accidentally), travelled on the upper deck of a London bus or a smokers carriage on British Railway (both before the smoking bans was enforced) you'll probably not get a lung cancer claim paid - unless you admitted to it on the application form.
It's more that the data will be used to build 'profiles' of you that will then be sold-on to those that want to pester you with the latest shampoo for bald men or similar (not that I am aware whether you are follicley challenged yourself of course). What I object to is somebody profiting just from selling on my data - without me getting a cut at the very least.

Or, as was the case with the DeepMinds stuff - the data was sold on to political parties and pressure groups to allow them to establish that certain areas of the UK would or wouldn't vote Leave/Remain in the Brexit debate (apologies - I inadvertently used the 'B' word in a post  ) so that they could attempt to influence you - all very Big Brother like.

Pushed back two months.

Health Minister Jo Churchill said "Patients own their own data", apparently!

Good to know that I own me, officially.

Quote from: Raider4 on 08 June 2021, 02:08:37 PM
Pushed back two months.

Health Minister Jo Churchill said "Patients own their own data", apparently!

Good to know that I own me, officially.

Yes but only for the next two months.   

Quote from: Norm on 07 June 2021, 01:53:51 PM
I can't believe that such a significant step has not become a big news issue for main stream media - wake up BBC!

Sorry they are too busy harassing the elderly (who are the only ones who still watch live transmission BBC programmes) to pay their licence fees.  Now they only report news after its been on Sky first.   

Quote from: Big Insect on 07 June 2021, 01:42:54 PMAlso in the age-old traditions of UK Big Government - this has not been widely announced - in fact to stop your data being downloaded you have to complete a paper form (another great digital government idea) that you can download from the NHS website (@ digital.NHS.uk/services/national-data-opt-out ) and take it by hand to your GP surgery before Wednesday 23rd June to stop your data being uploaded.

By hand? A bit bloody useless for me, since I was an NHS patient until I moved across the Pond twelve years ago. It's not worth an airline ticket aboard the Covid Flyer, and it's too far to swim. Still, I doubt anybody would pay the steep international mailing fees to send me junk mail based on my records.